By Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net,
Patna: The Third Front which is the ruling party in the Malegaon Municipal Corporation (MMC) of Maharashtra entered into an alliance with the Janata Dal (S) yesterday. Talking to TwoCircles.net Mufi Mohammed Ismail, head of the Third Front, said that it is in the interests of the people of Malegaon.
Initially the front was having an alliance with the Congress which it broke up with in mid October following the anti Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) wave sweeping the state.
Mufti Ismail Qasmi the founder president of the Third Front and Nehal Ahmad former Mayor of MMC and a leader of JD (S) were in contact with each other for last many days but the formal announcement of the alliance between the two was made yesterday in a combined meeting of the corporaters and leaders of both the parties.
In spite of the alliances there emerged some differences between some members of the two parties over the distribution of posts.
For instance Buland Iqbal who is the son of Nehal Ahmad is a strong contender for the post of chairman of school board and most probably he will be the chairman but Saleem Ahmad of Third Front is strongly pushing his case for the post through the party.
The party insiders are trying to persuade him to satisfy with the vice chairmanship but he is not in a mood to relent.
So with the purpose of bringing about a smooth alliance and the distribution of power a four member committee having two members from each side has been constituted.
Talking to TwoCircles.net Mufti Ismail pointed out that “when we broke our alliance with the Congress it was done because of the people wanted so and now when the Mahaz has decided to enter into an alliance with the JD (S) it is again done with their total support.”
He also informed that the Third Front had earlier made Najmuddin Khajurwala the Mayor of the MMC with the support of the Congress. There is still one year left in his working period after which Third Front in consensus with the JD (S) will select a mayor of the MMC.
He said that this alliance will provide the people of Malegaon an alternative of the Congress and NCP which have been completely and pathetically indifferent to the needs and demands of people.
When asked that whether the Third Front is thinking of taking forward this alliance with the JD (S) at the state level he replied that nothing can be said at present as the state the general election is many months away.
But he emphasized the need of a strong alternative of the Congress and NCP in the state as there is a strong resentment among the common people in the state against the policies of the Congress-NCP government.
Malegaon is probably the only district in West India where Muslim constitutes 70 percent of the total population of the district.
Third Front is a political party established just three months before the Corporation election in of the town which is also called ‘Manchester of Maharashtra’.
The Front has 30 corporaters including two non-Muslim corporaters. In the 2007 corporation election it emerged as the single largest party with 28 seats out of 72 while Congress and JD (S) bagged 15 and 12 seats respectively.
The alliance of the Third Front and JD (S) is a part of Anti-Congress NCP wave in the state which started with the en masse resignation of the corporaters from different parties three weeks back.
The observers of the local political scenario point out that this alliance can create much trouble for the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party at least locally to start with if not in the whole state.